Alketa Ramaj participated in the exhibition with a picture featuring a leaning tree being held by a metallic structure and a similar gypsum sculpture featuring a structure to hold a sapling straight
TIRANA, Feb. 7 – A picture and a sculpture featuring two holding structures for trees created by young artist Alketa Ramaj have been announced the winner of the 19th edition of the Onufri visual arts competition. The jury awarded Ramaj the first prize for the symbolism of the continuation of life brought by her works. The artist participated in the exhibition with a picture featuring a leaning tree being held by a metallic structure and a similar gypsum sculpture featuring a structure to hold a sapling straight.
“This is a very beautiful symbolism for a country like Albania because of giving the message of carefulness toward something that is born and grows. We think the Albanian society strongly needs this message and this was the reason why we as a jury focused on this work and awarded it with the first prize,” said the jury. “If the picture because of its nature could have been a coincidence, the sculpture shows it cannot be a coincidence but a real solution. It is interesting to see the solution of the object she has taken into consideration to introduce as an artwork, a holding structure for the strait growth of trees,” says Alban Hajdinaj the chairman of the jury.
“In a country like ours where the freedoms of the individual are misunderstood, the message of this work is quite clear. It is the need for a regulatory mechanism. It is a message for the need of structures which help the growth and shaping of the individual,”
Ramaj was handed a 300,000 lek (euro 2,100) cash prize for her works while no second or third prizes were awarded.
Curated by Italy’s Daniele Capra, the 19th edition of the Onufri visual arts exhibition was named
“Perchance to dream” after a Shakespearean verse from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy.
The exhibition inaugurated on December 28 ran until February 3, 2013 at the National Arts Gallery in Tirana. A curator, art critic and journalist, Capra, 36, has curated over 50 shows in Italy, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel.
Capra had chosen “Perchance to dream” as a topic because, according to him, there is a noticeable correspondence between an anguished and confused Hamlet found in difficult personal circumstances, who regardless finds strength to think philosophically about the world and its enigmas. According to Capra, the Albanian artists challenge and defy the difficult everyday reality, managing to offer personal solutions. But if Hamlet chose the road of vendetta to solve his personal problems, the artists in this exhibition propose and search for new ways and solutions to overcome them.
Lu誡n Bedeni, Yllka Gjollesha, Genti Korini, Mariana Kostandini, Remijon Pronja, Alketa Ramaj, Violana Murataj and Arjan Shehaj were the participant artists in the Onufri 2012.
